15 August 2015 - the place prepared

For since death came through man,
the resurrection of the dead came also through man.
For just as in Adam all die,
so too in Christ shall all be brought to life

Irenaeus sees even more deeply into the fact that Christ is the new Adam. He undoes the damage that Adam causes. Where Adam's sin brings life Christ's obedience brings life. What Irenaeus tells is it that Mary's obedience is antidote to the disobedience of Eve.

And thus also it was that the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary (from Against Hereies III.22).

Today we celebrate Mary's special place in the plan of salvation. She is raised on high to heaven. "The queen takes her place at your right hand in the gold of Ophir." She is taken to a place where the devouring dragon cannot reach her. Eve was intended to be the mother of all the living (cf. Gen. 3:20) but her sin made her the mother of the dead and dying. As Jesus undoes the sin of Adam he in turn raises up a new Eve to be the mother of the truly living when he tells us to behold our mother and tells Mary in turn to behold her sons (cf. Joh.19:26-27).

Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus (cf. Rev. 12:17).

The dragon is getting frustrated by all this obedience. He isn't finding an attack vector that works. So he's coming after us and he is angry. We should take refuge in our mother. She is safe from the perils of the enemy as she reigns in heaven. She can be a refuge for us as well.

It is the humility of Mary and her obedience which make her invincible to the dragon. We can share in this humility. We can share in her fiat, her yes to God. We can proclaim his greatness rather than our own. We can rejoice in what he does for us rather than relying on ourselves. When we do this we find that he does indeed have mercy on those who fear him in every generation. Mary brings the presence of Jesus to the world as the Ark of the New Covenant in a way so profound that the child in the womb of Elizabeth leaps for joy. But we are meant to bring the presence of Jesus into our worlds too. What if the people we meet jump for joy because of the presence of God we bring? It is possible.